Decluttering 101: How To Know When to Let Go

Keeping your home neat, tidy and organised can be an ongoing challenge. Over time stuff accumulates, things get forgotten about and the best-laid intentions go unrealised, resulting in more clutter in your home. Taking the time to declutter your home will not only make your home look better but it will help you to stay more organised and in control throughout the day, knowing where everything is.

Whether you are embarking on your annual spring clean, or it is just time for a clear-out, decluttering your home periodically is important. Whether your shoe storage is overflowing, your kitchen cabinets are full or you are simply tired of looking at the mess, there are many signs that a thorough declutter is required. The biggest hurdles for many homeowners, however, is knowing what to keep and what to get rid of. While this can often be a difficult task, with the right set of rules in place from the outset, you can ensure you make the right decisions during your purge.

Let’s take a look at a few simple rules you can apply to help you to determine what stays and what goes when you are decluttering your home.

Check The Expiry Date

Expiry dates apply to food, invoices, contracts, resumes and other documents that are no longer valid. It should also be applied to anything that has outlasted its usefulness. When decluttering, anything that has passed its expiry date needs to go.

What Is Vital To Save?

There will always be some documents that you will need to keep and hold on to. For example, documents such as birth certificates, a marriage certificate, warranties, wills, licenses, deeds, insurance papers and other important documents should not be thrown away. Instead, these documents should be stored in a safe place where you can access them when you need them.

Things That Make You Smile

Everyone has those special few belongings that make them happy. Whether it’s an old piece of clothing or a photograph, it’s ok to hold onto these sentimental items. However, the trick is to not end up with piles of nostalgic clutter. Choose a few items that are truly important to you and consider framing them or turning them into art for your home so they are on display instead of tucked away in a box.

You Only Need One

Over time, we often forget about what we have and don’t have. If you find that you have duplicates of certain items, keep one and get rid of the other. Perhaps you got a gift of a new coffee machine and the old one is just gathering dust? Or maybe you have three sets of fancy dinnerware but you rarely entertain? Eliminating duplicate items will help you to free up more storage space in your home.

Is It Used Regularly?

We all go through phases with different hobbies and interests, accumulating items that are used non-stop for a while and then forgotten about. These items quickly clutter up homes, garages and outdoor spaces. Are you really going to use that bread maker you bought three years ago? How about the abs machine that’s gathering dust in the garage? If items are not used regularly, there’s no point in keeping them. If you really do think you will use them, then give yourself a little time to see how much use they get and then reevaluate.

Be Honest, Thorough And Ruthless When Decluttering Your Home

The point of decluttering your home is to create more space for the things that you need access to on a regular basis and also to create a more functional and comfortable living space for you and your family. When you are going through your things, make sure that you are honest with yourself about how much you use your belongings. Be thorough and be ruthless. In most cases, you will soon have forgotten all about these items that you thought you couldn’t live without and instead you will have a neater and tidier home for you and your family to enjoy. Decluttering 101: How To Know When to Let Go

 

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